Binding

This book recounts the poignant human and technological adventure leading up to the tragedy in the ancestral Indian city of Bhopal. It was five past midnight on the night of the 2nd to the 3rd December 1984.

Translated from the French this book narrates the story of a monumental accident at Bhopal, the most magnificent capital of Madhya Pradesh in India.It was five past midnight on the night of the 2nd to the 3rd December 1984, a terrifying cloud of toxic gas escaped from an American pesticide plant set in the heart of the ancestral Indian City of Bhopal, killing between sixteen and thirty thousand and injuring five hundred thousand people.

An Indian family driven from their land by a swarm of ravaging aphids – Three New York entomologists who invented a miracle pesticide – A giant chemical company that finds a deadly gas with which to manufacture it – Young Western engineers determined to rescue the third world from its famines – A plant ‘as inoffensive as a chocolate factory’ – The joys and festivities of the condemned of the slums – Eunuchs and princesses who bewitch the American engineers – A poetry loving workman who unleashes the apocalypse – The heroic doctors who die giving victims mouth to mouth resuscitation – A young Indian bride who escapes the flames of a funeral-pyre because of the small cross around her neck. Hundreds of such characters, situations and adventures are telescoped into this fresco, full of love, heroism, faith and hope.

This book reveals a real tragedy of crucial relevance to our times, which is also a warning to all those sorcerer’s apprentices who threaten the future of our planet.

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Contents

Letter to the ReaderMap : " The City of Bhopal"

PART ONE - A NEW STAR IN THE INDIAN SKY1. Firecrackers that kill, cows that die and insects the murder2. The planetary holocaust wrought by armies of ravaging insects3. A neighbourhood called Orya Bustee4. A Visionary billionaire to the rescue of humanity's food5. Three zealots on the banks of the Hudson6. The daily heroism of the people of the bustees7. An American Valley that ruled the world8. A little mouse under the seats of Bhopal's trains9. A position that smelled like boiled cabbage10. They deserved the mercy of God11. "A hand for the future"12. A promised land on the ruins of a legendary kingdom13. A continent of three hundred million peasants and six hundred languages14. Some very peculiar pimps15. "A plant as inoffensive as a chocolate factory"16. A new star in the Indian sky17. 'They'll never dare send in the bulldozers"18. Wages of fear on the roads of Maharashtra19. The Lazy Poets' Circle20. "Carbide has poisoned our water!"21. The first deadly drops from the 'beautiful plant'22. Three tanks dressed up for a carnival23. "Half a million hours of work and not a day lost"24. Everlasting roots in the black earth of the Kali Grounds

PART TWO - A NIGHT BLESSED BY THE STARS25. A gas that makes you laugh before it kills you26. "You will all be reduced to dust"27. Ali Baba's treasure for the heroes of the Kali Grounds28. The sudden arrival of costs-cutting gentleman29. "My beautiful plant was losing its soul"30. The fiancTs of the Orya Bustee31. The end of a young Indian's dream32. The vengeance of the people of the Kali Grounds33. Festivities that set hearts ablaze34. A Sunday unlike any other35. A night blessed by the stars

PART THREE : THREE SARCOPHAGI UNDER THE MOON

36. Three sarcophagi under the moon37. "What if the stars were to go on strike?"38. Geysers of death39. Lungs bursting in the heart of the night40. "Something beyond all comprehension"41. "All hell has broken loose here"42. A half-naked holy man in the heart of a deadly cloud43. The dancing girl was not dead44. "Death to the killer Anderson!"45. "Carbide has made us the centre of the world"

EpilogueWhat became of themAcknowledgement"All that is not given is lost"